The Big Question

Posted on April 20, 2012 by

Once you’ve passed the age of 11 or 12, it becomes difficult to ask someone for a gift.  And yet, for non-profits to be strong and well positioned for growth, getting charitable gifts is vitally important.

Asking the question is part of the process; getting a yes is another.  For that, you must have a good reason—or case—to convince the prospect that a gift will be beneficial not only to your organization but also to the prospect.

Asking for an endowment or legacy gift is takes this to a whole different level.  In order to get a yes for this kind of gift you need to first discover who in your prospect pool is long-sighted, and what hopes and desires they have for the organization’s future.  You have to be able to dream with them and show them how an endowment or legacy gift can meet their aspirations.  Getting there doesn’t come easy, and it doesn’t come quick.

The time commitment is one reason why working in teams works best for gifts that require long-range cultivation and sophisticated solicitations.  Endowment gifts are often planned gifts—coming out of someone’s assets and not their current income.  That requires a level of knowledge and comfort about talking about ways of giving that is not often required with an annual gift.

Endowment gift teams are comprised of both volunteers and professional staff.  Typically, the development director acts as the glue that holds the process together.  He or she is the person who ensures that the process moves forward and that all other parties have the information they need

The most important member of the team is the person who can say to the prospect “Join with me in supporting this important initiative.” That means that this person must also be a donor, preferably having given a gift at the level you hope you will get from the prospect. From that start, you must discover the donor’s values and how those values can be extended beyond their lifetime through an endowment gift.  In all your visits, therefore, you must be listening more than you are talking.

Your first meeting will, of course, require that you tell the prospect about the endowment program.  The best way to start that is for the lay leader to describe his or her commitment to the program and why it is so important to the lay leader and the organization.  As you share this information make sure you are doing it in a way that will resonate with that prospect.  Why would he or she care?  Ask open-ended questions and really listen to the answers.

This first visit is meant for you to gauge the prospects true interest in supporting your organization with an endowment gift.  One way to ensure that there is real interest is to end the meeting by setting a date for the next visit.  At that next meeting—and the following ones—there are a number of questions you really want to get answered:

  • What are the prospect’s primary interests and values?
  • Is there additional information about the endowment or the organization the prospect wants or need?  If so, what would be most helpful?
  • Are there specific programs or recognition opportunities that are of special interest?
  • What are the prospect’s personal and family circumstances and ambitions?
  • Is endowment of interest?  If not, what else might be?
  • Are you already remembered in his or her will?  If not, would they consider that?
  • Is there a specific planned gift technique beyond a bequest that might be of interest?
  • Who else would the prospect need or want to meet with?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you are ready to move on to developing gift plan that speaks to the prospect’s basic motivations; motivations that will inspire your prospect to say yes when you ask that big question:  Will you join with me?

Janet Levine works with nonprofits and educational organizations, helping them to increase their fundraising capacity—and, through legacy and endowment gift programs, ensure their future.  Learn more at http://janetlevineconsulting.com.

 

Posted in Ask, Endowment, fundraising, Legacy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Holy Grail of Development

Posted on April 11, 2012 by

According to Penelope Burk of Cygnus Applied Research the average amount of time a fundraiser stays at his or her job is 16 months. The direct and indirect costs of finding a replacement are $127,650, more than most development directors earn annually.

This is pretty depressing (unless you are a development director, as it means that there is a lot of work out there for you).  Worse, while turnover rates for fundraisers have always been high, tenure in a job seems to be losing ground.  When I was an on-the-ground fundraiser the average was 18 months.

Burk posits lots of reasons for this high turnover.  Money, however, tops her list.  I’m not so sure.  If money was the big motivator, most development directors would not work in the nonprofit sector. It’s not that a fair compensation doesn’t count—it does, but it is not the only or even the major reason.  In 2005, Leigh Ribenbark wrote a book (The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave) and noted that about 90% of departing employees leave because they have issues with “Job, manager, culture or work environment.”  Interestingly, Ribenbark also found that an equal percent (90) of managers believed their employees leaving or staying was based solely on salary.

Based on almost 30 years of being, managing, working with and coaching development officers, I would say that most leave in search of the holy grail—the ability to do the job they thought they were hired to do.

For most fundraisers, unless you work in a large organization with a robust development staff, the resources available to you are scant indeed.  Rather than the heady experience of matching excited donors with a cause or program that matters to them, most development directors director themselves only and spend more than 80% of their time on pretty mundane administrative duties.

Hiring committees regularly look for a “people person,” and yet most development directors I know rarely get out from behind their desks.

Worse than being stuck is the disconnect between demands and resources and the expectations for development.  Many development directors find that they are given a lot of non-fundraising responsibilities—and then taken to task for not raising funds.

“It’s frustrating,” one development director who wants to remain anonymous told me.  “The organization is so close to closing its doors, but I have so many other things to do I never get to fundraise.  That’s bad enough.  But I’m not practicing what I know or learning new skills.  If I stay here much longer I won’t be able to market myself as a successful fundraiser.  What am I saying?  Successful?  How about ‘as a fundraiser’ period?”

As you might expect, this development director is on her way out the door.

Keeping fundraising staff—like keeping any staff—starts before they begin.  Hiring the right person is critical.  But even before you start looking for that person, make sure you are clear about what the job will be.  Think about the tasks you want this person to perform, and the outcomes you want at the end of 6 weeks, 6 months, a year.

Fundraising is a very broad term;  development and advancement cover even broader ground.  Don’t look to hire a development director if all you want is someone to write grants or put on two special events per year.  Hire a grant writer or a special events person.  You’ll both be happier.  Ditto if you want this person to spend half time as operations manager.  The two areas of responsibility are not compatible and one or the other will suffer.

Clarity about the job you want done will help you to hire the right person, and the right person may very stay long beyond 16 months.

Janet Levine works with nonprofit organizations helping them to increase fundraising capacity.   Find out more at http://janetlevineconsulting.com.

Posted in development, jobs | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What We Do When We Aren’t Fundraising

Posted on April 5, 2012 by

One of the things I noodle about a lot is how people spend their time.  I admit that I have a failure of imagination in understanding what makes a lot of people so busy that they can’t get to things that seem important to me.  And yes, it is all about me (except, of course, when it is about you).

This particular bout of thinking was precipitated by a frustrating few weeks when several of my clients were too busy to see me.  And, honestly, this isn’t personal pique.  These clients hired me because they wanted to move forward in their fundraising efforts and were having difficulty getting where they wanted to go.  And here we were, forward movement impeded because they were too busy to think about fundraising, let alone complete the (small!) tasks that need to be completed before we can move forward.  Circular thinking, indeed.

In some cases, I do get it.  There is no professional fundraising staff, and the ED and Board members really are dancing as fast as they can.  But in others, where there is a development director—sometimes there is even additional fundraising staff—I don’t understand how they can have so much to do that it is impossible to focus on the fundraising efforts they identified as critical.

If I sound like I am throwing a tantrum, well, I am.

So many nonprofits never seem to get beyond crisis fundraising.  They are too busy keeping the doors open to stop and consider that perhaps there is a better way.  That maybe, instead of holding the door open by themselves, perhaps a door stop, or magnets, or a chair tipped under the doorknob would do just as good a job—and would free them to consider how to improve funding for the things that go on (or should be going on) beyond those doors.

The most important step in solving a problem—and not fundraising, it seems to me, is a serious problem for most nonprofits—is first being able to articulate what is going on.  So what—really, honestly, truly—is keeping you from fundraising (or keeping you from doing what needs to be done to move the fundraising you are doing to a higher level)?  What makes you too busy to take the steps necessary that will put your organization on firmer financial footing?

This is not a rhetorical question.  We can all cite meetings, reports, staff, stuff that get in our way.  But the truth is usually a lot closer to home.  It’s easier to focus on things that have a clear beginning and end (meetings, filing, entering names in the database) than ones that with each step bring yet another set of actions.

It’s more fun if there is no chance of rejection—and fundraising is full of that.  More people will say no—to whatever you are asking—than will say yes.  It’s a fact of life, and while it’s not fun, you shouldn’t need a suicide watch when you hear no (or worse—get no response at all).

It’s easier to do what feels comfortable.  And that tends to be whatever you’ve been doing (or not doing, as the case may be).  But when you do get out of your comfort zone, amazing  (or at least interesting) things start to happen.

So, first, stop being too busy to fundraise.  Then commit to using that time to (a) plan your fundraising work and then, (b) work your fundraising plan.

And if you have a coach or consultant, commit to a regular time-certain to work with her and then to tackle the tasks you agree to during those sessions.

 

Janet Levine works with nonprofit and educational organizations, helping them NOT to be Too Busy to Fundraise, and to raise a lot more money than they have before.  Learn more at http://janetlevineconsulting.com

 

 

Posted in accountability, development, fundraising, time management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Purpose

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

“To what purpose?” my friend and colleague Leslie Robin asked.  What a great question.  I’m one who always thinks, “What am I trying to accomplish?”  What, I always want to know before I do something, is the outcome.  But purpose—that takes it to a whole new level.

The specifics we were talking about was a revamping of my website.  I was frustrated because my web person seems to have gone MIA, which would mean going through the painful (to me) process of totally redoing my site, moving my hosting—all opening up cans of worms that were, quite frankly, making me hyperventilate.

I had asked myself what I wanted to have at the end of the process, but I hadn’t really thought about whether this was a good use of my time, my energy, and my money.

I can—and do—make changes to the copy on most of my pages, so 95% of the information is up to date. Besides, my client load is pretty hefty at the moment, and most of my clients are either repeat or they come via referrals.

So truly, given where I am at this very moment, is my website worth worrying about—or can it wait until I can focus on it, and/or, perhaps, my web person reappears (which I fervently hope happens).

Outcomes are a hot topic now for funders and those who rate organizations.  They want outcomes that are quantitatively measurable and they want those measurements to be experience based.  But sometimes outcomes aren’t what you need to focus on.  Or, rather, aren’t the only thing on which you should be focusing.

Purpose is a good thing to question.  Another way to look at that is “Why is this necessary at this moment in time?”

“To what purpose,” is exactly the right thing to question.

For example, a number of my clients have embarked on campaigns of one form or another—and with campaigns comes the perceived need for case statements.  But for some of my clients, the time spent on developing material to show why support for this campaign is necessary does not really move the campaign forward.  Maybe later it will be important, but now their focus is on current supporters—people who already believe in the organization and simply need to be informed of the campaign and introduced to the idea of making a rather large gift.

If the organization has a full complement of fundraising and marketing staff—sure, go for it.  But if, as with most of my clients, fundraising and marketing sits in an office of one, perhaps resources would be better spent meeting one on one with those supporters and talking with them about the campaign.

I will continue to ask (and I think you should, too) what I want to accomplish before I set out to do something.  But then I will ask Leslie’s question:  To what purpose? That way I can help to ensure that I am not only going in the right direction, but that I am on the right path for getting where I want to go.

 

Janet Levine works with nonprofits and educational organizations, helping them to define direction.  Learn more at http://janetlevineconsulting.com.

Posted in development, fundraising | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Questionable Actions

Posted on March 22, 2012 by

After every meeting, my then-boss would punch the air and say, “Yes!  He’s really interested in what we are doing!”

How do you know that? I would always ask, and he would always look at me as if I was daft.  I was there, wasn’t I?  Hadn’t I heard him say that our work was really interesting?

A more-current client would tell me much the same after every prospect meeting:  “They love us,” he enthuses.  How do you know?  His answer?  They told us!

Well, now.  I have an acquaintance whose child is truly the least appealing kid I’ve ever known.  Unattractive, whiny….and the apple of his mother’s eye.

“So cute!” I always say.  “So adorable.”  And you know what?  I am lying.

Let me ask again:  How do you know that your prospect loves you?  Is going to make a large gift?  Will indeed do whatever it is that you have decided the prospect should do?

When you meet with a prospect and they say positive things, you must follow up with a direct question.  For example, “Yes, we are very proud of this program.  Can you see yourself supporting it at the $500,000 level?”

Of course, I just picked a number out of the air, but you should not.  Before you go out on a major donor call, you should have some idea of the size gift you hope to get—and the purpose for which the gift will be given.  Both of these may change as the relationship develops.  Of most importance is listening to what is said—verbally and with body language.

Recently I was out with a client and one of her major prospects.  As my client was telling the prospect about the project, the prospect broke eye contact, started rubbing on finger with the fingers of the other hand and staring off into space.

As soon as my client took a breath, I jumped in (reasons why two people are better on a major donor call!).

“Joan tells me that you really enjoyed the tour last week,” I said.  And immediately the prospect linked eyes with me.  “What was the best thing you saw?”  And she was off and running.

Without missing a beat, my client asked the prospect, “Could you see yourself as a $25,000 donor” to that project?

The prospect blinked.  “I’m not sure,” she finally said.  “I need to think about it.”

Fine.  It really was. We weren’t there to actually close a gift as much as qualify that there would be a gift to close….someday.  So we continued probing and learning about the prospect—what she hoped for this project and what, if she did chose to support it, how her gift would be used and (more importantly) recognized.

And then we asked a few other questions:

  • Would she be willing to introduce us to some of her friends who might also be interested in that (or another) project?
  • Could she help us with another prospect—someone we knew she knew quite well?
  • What else did we need provide her with to make her more comfortable with supporting the project?

Just as you should be asking questions of your donors, you should be asking hard questions of yourself.  Questions like:

  • So what?  We do “x”—so what?
  • Who cares?  That we do “x” matters to whom?
  • What’s next?  We’ve done this, what now?  That can be about the project, a prospect, or a donor.  Always question what your next step might be.  And even before it all, ask yourself:
  • What is the outcome we are hoping to attain?

Just as you will learn more when you listen than when you speak, you will have more to listen to when you ask questions, rather than thinking you already know the answers. Even if the only person you are asking is yourself.

 

Janet Levine works with nonprofits and educational organization, helping them to ask their donors and themselves the right questions about fundraising and board development.  Learn more at http://janetlevineconsulting.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in fundraising | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment